Customizing themes and such -- was it really empowerment in any meaningful sense, though?
It was more like a really banal illusion of empowerment. Your Windows PC was locked down with all kinds of proprietary file formats and restrictive licenses, and wide open to malware. But hey, you could change the colors of your title bars and stuff. Was that really "empowerment?"
I mean, yes, changing your window colors is orthogonal to licenses and security and such. But despite fond memories, I can't see Windows 3.1 as "the good old days" no matter how hard I try.
It was more like a really banal illusion of empowerment. Your Windows PC was locked down with all kinds of proprietary file formats and restrictive licenses, and wide open to malware. But hey, you could change the colors of your title bars and stuff. Was that really "empowerment?"
I mean, yes, changing your window colors is orthogonal to licenses and security and such. But despite fond memories, I can't see Windows 3.1 as "the good old days" no matter how hard I try.